I’ve been slow to get back into the blogging groove since returning from last weekend’s Shore Leave convention. Sorry about that, and I’m hoping to crank things back up here shortly.

One of the more interesting — if not highly-attended — panels during the convention was a discussion about radio and audio dramas. Hosted by HG World creator and driving force Jay Smith (dr_p_venkman) and with me and Keith DeCandido (kradical) occupying other empty chairs, we proceeded to have what ended up being a rather fun conversation.

The topics ran from favorite examples of classic radio drama (often referred to today as “old-time radio”) as well as audiobooks and more recent attempts at full-cast audio dramas, and finally the resurgence of the audio drama format thanks to the internet and podcasting. HG World was the hook, of course, and provided Jay with plenty of examples to illustrate various points as we fielded questions from our audience, which started with 1 member at the top of the hour before finally swelling to 12. Hey, what they lacked in numbers, they more than made up for with enthusiasm.

Jay, ever the scheming one, recorded the entire hour on video, and has made the panel discussion available for your viewing pleasure in four installments on YouTube:

The audio isn’t always the greatest, given that for the first part of the hour we were basically talking to one or three people on the front row five feet from us, so we weren’t yelling to be heard in the back. After watching it, I realized that I did my level best to dork up the entire thing, sitting as I did with a large enough space between me and Keith that all three of us don’t always fit into the picture. Whoops.

Thanks to Jay for hosting the panel, for inviting me to play, and for posting the whole thing for others to see.